I’m Never Making a Roast Chicken in My Big Oven Again. Here’s Why – CNET

Roasted chicken on a Sunday afternoon is about as comforting as comfort food gets. I make one at least a few times a month and enjoy tinkering with the seasoning, recipe, cooking times and temps. In my biggest tinker yet, I cooked a whole chicken in an air fryer. It was the fastest I’ve ever cooked a full bird, the skin was impossibly crispy, and the meat was as tender as a ballad. 

A few bites in and I can safely say that my first air fryer roast chicken won’t be my last.

I’m fully versed in the joys of air fryer cooking — nothing outside of a deep fryer gets food crispier, faster — but the idea of making a whole roasted chicken in an air fryer oven evaded me until now.

I served the chicken with rice made quickly in my trusty rice cooker, but I could have just as easily dropped some root vegetables in the air fryer with the chicken and had myself with a full dinner to feed four or five, all cooked in the confines of one nonstick air fryer basket.

My only suggestion when making an air fryer bird is to keep a close eye on the chicken, especially toward the end. The heat from an air fryer is intense and could easily burn the skin if you have it cranked up too high or leave it in too long. If your skin is getting brown faster than the chicken is coming to temp inside, pull back on the heat and continue monitoring.

You’ll know the meat is cooked when a meat probe reads 160 degrees Fahrenheit when plunged into the thickest part of the breast.

How to make air fryer roast chicken

1. Preheat air fryer to 360 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Whisk olive oil, mustard, seasoning blend, salt and pepper together
3. Rub mustard marinade over the entire chicken
4. Place chicken in air fryer basket breast down on top of the wire rack and cook for 25 minutes
5. Flip the bird breast up and cook for the remaining 25 minutes
6. Remove when juices run clear or an internal thermometer reads 160 degrees Fahrenheit
7. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving and pour juices from the air fryer basket over sliced chicken